Something that fascinated me with Russians is how they go out of their way to get every bit of sunlight. I mean, they act like sunflowers, even standing to face the sun and open their arms on the beach, and orienting themselves towards it. They'll go to the beach at ungodly hot hours and stay under the sun, in Tunisia, during summer!
It is amazing because I'm really dark and dark skinned, I'm also native of the region (Algeria), and even then, I'll protect myself and stay in the shade because I'll get sunburnt very easily if I don't take precautions. They're fair skinned and they're not as cautious. It's just incredible.
Anecdotal, but not all fair skinned people react the same to sun. My wife and her Polish-descended family get a nice golden tan from sun exposure. My English-descended family and I just burn instead. But we all look equally pale during the winters.
